REBECCA DALE Requiem For My Mother

Young British composer Rebecca Dale, the first female composer to sign to Decca Classics, will release her debut album ‘Requiem For My Mother’ on 31st August – featuring two major works: her brand new Materna Requiem and her choral symphony When Music Sounds.

At the heart of Rebecca’s first recording is her Materna Requiem – a beautifully moving and uplifting tribute to her late mother, who died in 2010. The work draws from both the traditional text of the Catholic Mass and contemporary poetry and is a homage to parents everywhere. It features the voices of soprano Louise Alder, tenor Trystan Griffiths and young chor

isters Hannah Dienes-Williams and Edward Hyde (BBC Radio 2 Young Chorister of the Year 2016) alongside the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The work will receive its world premiere performance at The North Wales International Music Festival in St Asaph Cathedral on 22nd September.

Rebecca Dale says of the album: “It’s an amazing feeling to be releasing my first album and sharing my music with everyone. The Requiem is a very personal piece to me, and it uses melodies I wrote when I was a child so you could say I’ve been working on it for most of my life! When I first wrote the Requiem I didn’t even realise it would receive a performance so it’s a hugely exciting moment to hear it on record, and I hope the piece connects with people.”

The first track from Rebecca’s new album, ‘Pie Jesu’, is out now and expresses a parent’s love for their son or daughter – so instead of using a child’s voice as is tradition for this movement, it’s represented as a father singing to his newborn.

The process of writing the Materna Requiem has been somewhat cathartic for Rebecca – she describes the musical tribute to her mother as “a way for me to build a bridge back to her”. Rebecca is keen to help others who have suffered the loss of a parent and is a supporter of Winston’s Wish – the UK’s first childhood bereavement charity. Donation buckets will be available at the premiere performance of the work, plus Rebecca will be taking part in ‘TrekFest’ for the charity.

Rebecca’s work first came to public attention when BBC Radio 3 premiered her choral symphony ‘When Music Sounds’ in 2014 and the track, ‘I’ll Sing’, went to No.1 on the Classical iTunes chart. It seems fitting that the whole piece is recorded on her debut album. Performed by the Cantus Ensemble – one of London’s leading chamber choirs – this inspiring orchestral work is a glorious counterpart to the Requiem and concludes the album in stunning style.

Dénes Várjon DE LA NUIT

“Negotiating dynamic shifts of emphasis,” The Independent has noted, “Dénes Várjon displays that most valuable of gifts: the ability to play in a way which makes you listen anew to the familiar.”  This capacity is to the fore in the Hungarian pianist’s sensitive exploration of Schumann’s Fantasiestücke, Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit and Bartók’s Im Freien – an illuminating journey through three worlds of poetic imagination. As Jürg Stenzl writes in the liner notes. “All three works were bold forays into fundamentally new music that far transcended the limits of their time. They require pianists for whom transcendent virtuosity is second nature.” Dénes Várjon more than fulfils the requirement. One of the most sought-after soloists and chamber musicians, he is a musician who puts the core and meaning of the compositions ahead of self-display.
Recorded in Lugano in 2016, De la nuit is Varjon’s fourth appearance on ECM and his second solo album for the label, following on from his widely acclaimed recital Precipitando, with music of Berg, Janáček and Liszt. Two other New Series releases revolve, directly and tangentially, around the world of Robert Schumann.  Together with Carolin Widmann, Dénes Várjon played Schumann’s Violin Sonatas on a recording showered with awards and praise (“the most eloquent and convincing performances I have ever encountered of this music”, wrote Nigel Simeone in International Record Review.) Várjon also contributed to Heinz Holliger’s Romancendres, a creative meditation upon the lost Schumann Romances. (ECM Records)

Henning Kraggerud MUNCH SUITE

Munch Suite is a unique recording from acclaimed violinist Henning Kraggerud being released to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the birth of the painter Edvard Munch. It features 15 new solo pieces, every one directly inspired by a specific painting by the great Norwegian artist. Each piece has been written by a different composer, in this case some important figures on the international contemporary music scene including Aaron Jay Kernis, Alissa Firsova and Laurent Petitgirard. The CD is presented in a de-luxe edition box that includes reproductions of each painting depicted in the suite.

The idea to let contemporary composers interpret Edvard Munch's iconic artworks came from the director of the Vestfold International Festival. Violinist Henning Kraggerud immediately saw the artistic potential of the project and the result is a solo suite that reflects the unique position of Munch's work as musical inspiration. The Munch Suite features premiere recordings of 15 pieces specially written by leading contemporary composers including Aaron Jay Kernis, Naji Hakim, Olav Anton Thommessen and Rolf Martinsson. The list includes English composer Peter Seabourne and the British-Russian composer Alissa Firsova, daughter of Elena Firsova.

The work was first heard during the exhibition 'Love's Beach' in 2010 at the Haugar Art Museum near the Åsgårdstrand shores, the place where Munch found motifs for many of his paintings. A small gallery able to accommodate an audience of only 60, each piece was performed in front of 'its own' painting. In connection with the release of the Munch Suite on CD, Kraggerud has developed an exclusive concert performance in which images of the paintings are projected.

ALISSA FIRSOVA Fantasy

Alissa Firsova may be the mature side of 30 but this album radiates youth in all its wonder, complexity and heartening naivety. Any caveats implied by that observation are largely blown away by the ferocity of Firsova’s expression and there are countless moments on this disc where you feel her writing in the white heat of total inspiration.

Many of them come in Bride of the Wind for two pianists, a reflection on the love between Oskar Kokoschka and Alma Mahler that obviously yet transcendentally captures the idea of two souls so wrapped up in one another that their relationship is as fraught, precarious and charged as is its ecstatic. There are many levels on which Firsova harnesses that feeling: one pianist knowingly completing another’s thoughts; one instrument rubbing against the other like a huge, grinding hulk in an act that could almost prove fatal.

Much of the music here is explicitly linked to beautiful experiences in Firsova’s life. In Loss for clarinet quintet, we hear the gargantuan frustration of bliss: the idea that paradise knowingly excludes realities both mundane and horrific. Clarinettist Marc van der Wiel’s playing is hypnotic. In Tennyson Fantasy for string quartet, Firsova uses contradictory elements to temper the music’s gush, though there are moments here when romantic idealism gets the better of her.

Not, however, in the extraordinary passacaglia, which twists itself on to a single F natural and again speaks of the fragility of beautiful things and feelings. Masterly constructed, too, is Eternity for clarinet and piano, an expression of the eternal that Firsova was determined should last no more than two minutes. Ellie Laugharne’s striking delivery in ‘Here in Canisy’ is a little grand for the sense Firsova conveys – surely awestruck rather than striking awe – and it’s hard to discern the words. The Brittenesque augmented fifths and miniature blossoming episodes of this song and ‘Unity’ (for baritone) are highly evocative yet it’s remarkable that, despite using established forms and often rooting her music tonally or modally, no figure looms over Firsova’s shoulder to tell you any of this is received, learnt or overly influenced. A striking composer from whom I look forward to hearing more – especially, I hope it’s not too cynical to say, when life has given her more than the residual tragedy of paradise to reflect upon. (Andrew Mellor / Gramophone)

Juliet Fraser / Mark Knoop MICHAEL FINNISSY Choralvorspiele / Andersen-Liederkreis

London based pianist and conductor Mark Knoop is known for his fearless performances and individual interpretations. He has commissioned and premièred countless new works and worked with many respected composers including Peter Ablinger, Joanna Bailie, Michael Finnissy, Bernhard Lang, Cassandra Miller, Matthew Shlomowitz, and Steven Kazuo Takasugi. His versatile technique and virtuosity also bring fresh approaches to the standard and 20th-century repertoire.

My music contains many musics, but impure, misremembered, smudged and melted, torn apart yet not completely erased. (Michael Finnissy)

Michael’s music is gnarly, gristly even — one senses keenly that it is the product of an intellectual yet instinctive wrestling with the very philosophy of music. (Juliet Fraser)

Eve Egoyan THETHINGSINBETWEEN

Eve Egoyan, specializing in the works of living composers, releases her first CD the things in between. The selections, all world premiere recordings, range from minimalist to experimental, from the lushly complex and abstract to compositions which recall a more standard classical repertoire. Eve has performed solo recitals to sold out houses, and as a soloist with some of the country’s leading orchestras.

“With grace and intensity in equal measure, Canadian pianist Eve Egoyan seems incapable of an unmellifluous gesture…And if there’s a thread that runs through this recording, it is the affection which the composers and performer obviously have for the piano – for its sonority, versatility and history.” (Elissa Poole, Opus)

“A performer whose powers of listening cast a hypnotic spell over her audiences, opening their ears and hearts… What’s Egoyan´s secret? Meticulous preparation. Discerning choice of repertoire-she only plays music she loves… An innate love for piano sonorities and texture. Abundant technique that never advertises itself. A passionate desire to get under the skin of the music she plays… and Egoyan´s magical quality of listening…” (National Post)

Christina Petrowska Quilico SOUNDSPINNING music of ANN SOUTHAM

Composer Ann Southam (1937–2010) was exhilarated by sound. She had an open mind for all forms of artistic expression, especially music and sound. An innately curious person, she enjoyed experimenting with sound and making musical discoveries. She was equally fascinated by a single ringing piano note as by a cycling sequencer in the electronic music studio. Southam spent much of her creative life at home with her Beckstein grand piano, constantly trying out the stream of ideas that would spring to her fertile imagination. In an interview she gave in 1997 she said, “I always knew I wanted to be an artist. Art is magic.” From her New York orchestral debut at age 14 (“promethean talent” – New York Times) to the present day as one of Canada’s leading artists, pianist Christina Petrowska Quilico continues to astound audiences and critics with her dazzling command of the keyboard. CBC Music named her one of 20 Can’t-Miss Classical Pianists of 2014, and one of Canada’s 25 best classical pianists in 2015.

Wang Tao / Akimi Fukuhara SPIN

He is the first musician in China to receive a master's degree in clarinet from the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, a top music school in the country. 

Wang has released 12 albums that are being used as teaching material at the conservatory. He also won the best instrumental-album award at the Golden Melody Awards in Taiwan. 

As the husband of former Olympic gymnastics champion Liu Xuan, he is used to being pursued by the media. 

But last year, when he sent producers some 40 music samples from his new record company, Universal Music, the feedback he got caught him off guard. 

While the young musician had expected positive reactions, he was told the samples were "interesting" or "disastrous". 

"It's something I have never experienced before," says Wang, 37, who was considered gifted since his childhood. "I didn't feel depressed. Instead, I was excited because I knew that it's time for me to change."

Goldberg Septett / Heribert Breuer / Ulrich Noethen GOLDBERG VARIATIONEN IM DIALOG MIT MONTAIGNE

Until 2010 Heribert Breuer was professor at the Universität der Künste Berlin. He teached theorie of music and choral conducting. His artistic actitivity appoints in both domains: as founder and director of the Berliner Bach Akademie and as arranger of music from Bach, Mozart and composers of romanticism. Meanwhile he distinguished with an immense number of adaptations for different instrumentations. The most popular ones are his version of the “Arpeggione-Sonate” of Franz Schubert (violoncello, windquintet) and Bach’s “The Art of Fugue” for four quartets. Heribert Breuer’s versions are inspired arrangements, often supplemented by more voices and they truly reflect the spirit of the compositions. His version of the last Contrapunctus of The Art of Fugue was performed at the opening of the Bach-Festival Leipzig in the Thomaskirche. Breuer's arrangement of the Goldberg-Variations for septet (string trio, woodwind trio and harp) was recently recorded by Deutschlandradio Kultur.

His career as organist led him to nearly all the spanish cathedrals. In 2016 he played in Sevilla and Malaga. The focus of his repertoire is Johann Sebastian Bach.

Soo-Min Lee / Hyo-Sun Lim CLARKE - VIEUXTEMPS Sonatas - Capriccio

At age 18, Soo-Min Lee already won 1st prize in Dong-A competition which is one of the biggest competitions in Korea.

She studied with Prof. En-sik Choi in Seoul National University and after she finished Bachelor, she continued her studies in Cologne with Prof. Rainer Moog. She finished her Diplom with distiction and Konzertexamen in Musikhochschule in Cologne.

From her devoting to contemporary music, she has participated in International Ensemble Modern Academy in 2008-09. Since then she plays in Ensemble Modern as a guest violist throuout many major concert halls in Europe. Recent engagement include appearences at Salzburg, Paris Salle Pleyel, Berlin Konzerthaus, Frankfurt Alte Oper, Roma Santa Cecilia, Milano among others.

She has been invited to Salzburg Music Festival,Verbier Music Festival, Open Chamber Music in Prussia Cove, Seoul Spring Festival of chamber music, and Tong-Young international music festival.

She has played as the 1st Principal Violist in Duisburger Philharmoniker/ Deutsche Oper am Rhein. And she has been invited as a guest principal violist to KBS symphony Orchestra and TIMF Orchestra in Seoul, Korea.

Recently she teaches in Seoul National University, Korea national university of arts and Inje University. Also as a member of Quartet Knecht who has recorded two CDs from Sony classical label.

Sonja Leutwyler / Astrid Leutwyler / Benjamin Engeli HYMNE À LA BEAUTÈ

Hymne à la beauté' brings together rarely heard gems of chamber music in delightful arrangements for voice, violin and piano, passionately performed by the aspiring and outstanding Swiss artists Sonja Leutwyler (mezzo soprano), Astrid Leutwyler (violin) and Benjamin Engeli (piano). This programme of discoveries features captivating works by Louis Spohr, Johannes Brahms, Charles Ives, Camille Saint-Saëns, Felix Petyrek, Czesaw Marek and Ottorino Respighi. On a special commission for this CD, the Swiss composer Martin Wettstein has composed the piece 'Hymne à la beauté (hymn to beauty)' for mezzo soprano, violin and piano after a poem by Charles Baudelaire.

Trio Arbós SPANISH PIANO TRIOS

Three years after Granados premiered his Trio in Madrid, his admired friend, Joaquín Malats, whom he had known since they were fellow students in Barcelona, premiered his Trio in B-flat at the Madrid Athenaeum. Music of exquisite, elegant, and fresh refinement, constant in flight and resounding in inspiration, condenses in its three movements all the creative potential of a musician who died prematurely at 40 years of age. Pedrell himself confesses in the first person his weakness for Chopin in his first period as a composer: In the year 1872, the chronic nocturnitis from which I suffered, and which was influenced by Chopin and Field, worsened, and I published, almost at the same time, two Nocturnos (in G minor and A major). After a month of intense work, the Trio in C Major op. 50 of Enrique Granados premiered on 22 February 1895, at the Salón Romero in Madrid, the favorite haunt of Madrids chamber evenings, as the culmination of a programme dedicated entirely to the music of Granados that included his Quintet and several pieces for piano. The present recording has been made using exclusively the manuscript of the Trio in C Major op. 50, held in the Museum of Music of Barcelona. The difference with the existing editions of the work and with the recordings based on those texts is more than notable.

Miguel Bernal / Blanca Gómez / Héctor Guerrero ÁNGEL BARJA Limones van por el río

This recording has selected almost all of the piano-voice songs by Ángel Barja, based on ancient Galician folklore, where the melody tames a very accomplished popular style, slenderised in a subtle and coloristic piano accompaniment that scrupulously observes the conventions of popular roots voice writing. Barja preserves the syllabic nature of the melodies and insists on maintaining the accentuations against the verse. He alternates in them the strophic song, with turns and repetitions, with the simplicity of the popular tune, in many cases with medieval roots, as happens in the Cantiga “Those who know how to love” («Cuantas savedes amar») with a 13th century melody. Another bloc groups exuberant Christmas songs and, last, a third group, very eclectic, assembles songs of different styles and subjects. The poetic anthology used by Barja in his songs is very successful regarding the rhythm and musicality of these verses. It is no coincidence that, despite the apparent aesthetical and geographical remoteness of Galicia and Granada, our composer chose Federico García Lorca to compose five of his songs. José María Pemán was the poet chosen by the composer to set two of his most beautiful and brilliant songs: “Lemons carries the river” («Limones van por el río»), title of this CD production. This sample of the best of his legacy clearly pretends to showcase his music, his talent as melody composer and his mastery to combine sonorities and tradition.

Chouchane Siranossian / Anima Eterna Brugge / Jakob Lehmann IN TIME

Chouchane Siranossian is a rising star of the baroque and classical violin, Jakob Lehmann a virtuoso violinist and orchestral director who frequently conducts Anima Eterna. Together, they embody what the Bruges orchestra and its founder, Jos van Immerseel, have decided to call the ‘Next Generation Anima Eterna’… Today they are presenting Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto in its original version. “We wanted to take a look into Mendelssohn’s workshop. He struggled with his self-diagnosed ‘revision disease’ and always strove to work hard on himself and his creations” says Jakob Lehmann. Chouchane Siranossian keeps on “It was a fascinating experience for me to discover historical research and its implementation on period instruments in collaboration with Anima Eterna Brugge. In my interpretation, I used exclusively the fingerings, bowings and other performance markings of Ferdinand David and Joseph Joachim, both of whom rehearsed the work with the composer.” This recording is rounded off with the Octet, also in its original version, which is longer and has many alterations in instrumentation, harmony and articulation…

Juliane Banse / András Schiff SONGS OF DEBUSSY AND MOZART

One of the recurrent highlights of András Schiff’s chamber music series at the Mondsee Festival over the last decade has been his duet performances with Juliane Banse. The singer first went there, at the pianist’s invitation, in 1994. “I just sang five Mendelssohn songs with him then, but we realized right away that we were a good team,” says Ms Banse. Since then the duo has been a special commitment, a project returned to whenever crowded itineraries permit. “Songs of Debussy and Mozart” is their first album together.

A spontaneous, fresh approach, and an exchange of new ideas and insights in the music, has characterized their work. “The extraordinary things about working with András Schiff are that there are no rehearsals in the conventional sense; there’s no writing in the margin of the score, and fixing details and approaching the work the same way each time, none of that. It’s very different every time, which makes the live situation very exciting. Many new things always happen. If I have a new idea – and sometimes I’ll do things I’ve never done before - I know he’ll be able to accommodate it…”

Debussy songs have formed part of Banse/Schiff’s core repertoire from almost the beginning of their association, and were obvious choices for their first ECM recording, but Banse also felt that Mozart’s songs are consistently undervalued in contemporary recitals and chose to cast a fresh light on them.

“Generally the songs don’t get the attention they deserve. We wanted to put Mozart in the centre of the recording.” In bringing together songs of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Claude Debussy they uncover perhaps surprising ‘similarities’ between the composers. The mood is intimate, the atmosphere consistent. The French songs of Mozart including “Dans un bois solitaire” and “Oiseaux, si tous les ans” form one  bridge to Debussy’s world. “Both composers are very delicate in the expression of feeling in their songs” says Banse, “both very personal, and they both give so much from themselves.” Connections are stressed by Banse’s forthright approach to the Mozart. “You have to dare to sing the Mozart lieder as if they were impressionistic songs – then they suddenly become what they really are.” (ECM Records)

ÓLAFUR ARNALDS re:member

For his fourth solo studio record, Ólafur Arnalds has enthusiastically opened his arms (and his beloved pianos) to new technology. Stratus, a piece of software that composer and audio developer Halldór Eldjárn has spent the past two years collaborating with Arnalds to hone, links two self-playing, semi-generative pianos to a central, human-controlled piano. Using algorithms whose complexity will likely make your eyes twitch, the pianos respond to the notes played on the primary piano and then conjure patterns of notes, melodies, and harmonies of their own. This innovation has led to an album of new approaches, new tacks, and new sounds. Whilst Arnalds has utilised this tech to alter his method, he has also opted to incorporate the far-ranging influences, some of which have made appearances in his Trance Frenz and Kiasmos collaborations, in a raw, unfiltered manner which has, inevitably, led to a varied and evocatively emotional release.

Oh… and he also employed Stratus to design the album artwork. Just don’t ask me how.

There is something inherently watery in Ólafur Arnalds’ sounds. That is not to say weak, but dappled and flowing. Of natural rhythms and glinting possibility. It’s also music that is aware of an unruly danger. A fluid threat. And in that lies the trickle of melancholy, of potential fear, that pervades re:member. With every step forward there is hope. But there is also uncertainty, as if the pebbles upon which we tread may slide out, cascade down and send us under the lapping froth. (Jon Bucklan)

Azumi Nishizawa DEBUSSY HOMMAGE

Fascinating journey through the music that unites Debussy with Spanish composers. Places are sounds: Granada. The city was a recurring source of inspiration for Debussy, and yet the composer never visited it; his knowledge of it was gained only indirectly through literary accounts, images, and musical sources heard in Paris. All of these materials served to unleash his imagination in regard to its sound, which according to Falla represented ‘the truth without authenticity, as not a single note is borrowed from Spanish folklore and yet, even in its smallest details, it wonderfully expresses Spain’. A common element links all the composers in the present program: the city of Paris. From the end of the nineteenth to the early twentieth century, the French capital was a fundamental goal for many Spanish composers, who at some point in their lives went there for study or work purposes.

Gianluca Luisi J.S. BACH French Suites BWV 812 - 817

Critics from around the world (Postdate Nachrichten , Fanfare, New York at Carnegie Hall Concert reviews) consider Gianluca Luisi one of the most interesting Italian pianists of our time. His performances have received enthusiastic acclaim in many areas of the world.

In Italy, he graduated with honors from the Conservatory of Pesaro; studied at the Incontri col Maestro International Academy in Imola and with Aldo Ciccolini in Naples and Paris.

A winner of numerous competitions (TIM International Competition Bellini of Caltanissetta , Rendano Prize , Competition of Cesenatico, Italian Music Youth Auditions, International Competition of Sulmona) Gianluca received the first prize of the 4th International J.S. Bach competition in Saarbrucken - Würzburg, in March of 2001. He was selected among 54 pianists from 26 different countries while the critics heralded him as a new interpreter of J.S. Bach. On that occasion the Saarbrucken Zeitung declared: "The Italian won the first prize here. Well deserved […] because the young man is a great interpreter of Bach […] He produces music absolutely free . What more do you want?”

Hespèrion XXI / Jordi Savall BAILAR CANTANDO

Jordi Savall is among the leading instrumentalists and conductors of the European early music scene, specializing in Renaissance, Baroque, and Medieval music. He took an interest in early music and began learning the viola da gamba. He studied the gamba and early music research and practice with Wieland Kuijken in Brussels and August Wenzinger at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis in Basel.

In 1968, Savall married the soprano Montserrat Figueras, who shared his interest in early music. With Figueras and other musicians interested in early Spanish music, he founded the ensemble Hespèrion XX in 1974. The ensemble took its name from an ancient name for the Western European region from Italy to Iberia. At the turn of the 21st century, the group changed its name to Hespèrion XXI.

The Codex Trujillo is a manuscript edited by Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón, bishop of Trujillo, Peru. It contains 1,411 watercolours and 20 musical scores documenting the life in the diocese. It shows how baroque pieces imported from Western Europe was enriched by the local tradition, creating a unique Metis repertoire.

This music was conceived to be sung and danced at the same time (‘bailar cantando’) and we are confident you’ll try doing both.

Laura Pontecorvo / Rinaldo Alessandrini BACH Sonate a Cembalo Obligato e Traversiere Solo

The year 1736 was very important in the life of Bach: he was conferred the title of Royal-Polish and Electoral-Saxon Court Composer. In that same year he composed the only two autographed sonatas for flute and obbligato harpsichord. Both sonatas came to us as a step of an elaborative process which could also have consisted of a diverse instrumentation. Such a practice was of inspiration in choosing two sonatas, originally conceived for other instruments, to be inserted in a project dedicated to the equal dialogue between flute and harpsichord. We have no certainties regarding the dedicatee for the autograph sonatas. The relationship with Dresden maintained by Bach in those years, leads us to theorize that it might have been the flute virtuoso Pierre-Gabriel Buffardin, a close friend of the Bach family. The choice of the instrument for this recording is due to the eventful rediscovery in 2015 of the only known flute trademarked BUFFARDIN LES FILS. A copy of it can be heard here for the first time. This particular instrument throws new light on the works that Alessandrini and Pontecorvo have selected to record after many concerts and recording projects with Concerto Italiano.

Barbara Hannigan / Reinbert de Leeuw VIENNA FIN DE SIÈCLE

After the huge success of her GRAMMY Award-winning first album for Alpha, Crazy Girl Crazy, Canadian soprano Barbara Hannigan is back with her longtime collaborator and mentor, the great figure of twentieth-century music, Dutch pianist Reinbert de Leeuw.

For this new recital album, the duo explores the roots of modern music with composers who went on to lead a musical revolution: Arnold Schoenberg, Hugo Wolf, Anton Webern, Alexander Zemlinsky, Alma Mahler and Alban Berg. Vienna: Fin de Siècle presents a vision of Vienna at the height of late Romanticism, when music was at its most lush and decadent, at the edge of tonality and full of voluptuous beauty. Featuring composers for whom text and song were inseparable, the album captures the rich and intense moment before the disruption of the harmonic language of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Hannigan and de Leeuw have long championed the exquisite repertoire from this époque.

BERNSTEIN Romance

Bernstein to relax and dream: the double album "Romance" portrays the conductor, composer and pianist from his most romantic side in celebration of his centenary on August 25^th.

Leonard Bernstein is still unforgotten today, still on his centenary in 2018, for his outstanding interpretations of great symphonic works by Mahler, Brahms or Beethoven, and his unique sense for emotional melodies in his own arrangements and compositions. Nobody can resist the charm of the love ballad “Maria” or the optimistically inspired song “Somewhere” from the “West Side Story”. On this album some excerpts of Bernstein’s great recordings are carefully selected, which include legendary musical companions: from Edvard Grieg's "Morgenstimmung" (Peer Gynt Suite) with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, "Adagio for Strings" by Samuel Barber to the nostalgic second movement "Largo ma non tanto" from the Violin Double Concerto BWV 1043 by Johann Sebastian Bach with star violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin. And of course with Bernstein’s own music, “Maria” from the “West Side Story” or Offenbach’s famous “Barcarolle”. "Romance" is the ideal album to get to know one of the most famous classical artists of all time with romantic, relaxing classical music in high-quality recordings. 

The recordings are taken from the great Columbia Records catalogue. Bernstein conducted the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the Columbia Symphony Orchestra, working with outstanding soloists such as pianist Rudolf Serkin and violinists Isaac Stern and Yehudi Menuhin. In the piano concertos by Mozart and Beethoven, he plays the dual role of the pianist and the conductor.

Alisa Weilerstein / Trondheim Soloists TRANSFIGURED NIGHT

Transfigured Night brings together two outstanding composers associated with Vienna: Joseph Haydn and Arnold Schoenberg. The former is often seen as the oldest representative of the “First Viennese School”, whereas the latter founded the “Second Viennese School”, using the classicism of his predecessors to explore new, atonal musical paths into the twentieth century. By combining Haydn’s two cello concertos (in C-major and D-major) and Schoenberg’s symphonic poem Verklärte Nacht – in the 1943 edition for string orchestra – this album sheds a new, fascinating light on both Viennese masters.

The connection between the stylistically contrasting pieces on this album is further enhanced by the inspired playing of American cellist Alisa Weilerstein and the Trondheim Soloists. For Weilerstein, this album is not only a fascinating exploration of the rich Viennese musical heritage, but just as much a confrontation with the dark history of a city her grandparents had to flee in 1938. Transfigured Night is Weilerstein’s first album as an exclusive PENTATONE artist, as well as the first album recorded with the Trondheim Soloists since her appointment as Artistic Partner of the ensemble in 2017. (PENTATONE)

Katia Labèque / Marielle Labèque AMORIA

The two Labèque sisters are Basque in origin, having been born on the southwest coast of France near the Spanish border. Katia and Marielle are a sharply contrasted, yet highly communicative piano team. While their joint reputation was won initially through the performance of unusual repertoire, they have not neglected traditional works for two pianos.

For this vibrant and colorful album, the Labèque sisters reconnect with their Basque roots to explore a fabulously varied program that roams over five centuries of music. Joined variously by singers, percussionists, and a viola da gamba player, they weave a wonderful tapestry of sounds that reaches a toe-tapping climax with “Boléro” by Maurice Ravel (also of Basque lineage). The Labèques’ awe-inspiring unanimity of playing again takes the breath away, but they also find a gentler, almost melancholy quality that’s very touching. Folk music and art music collide here and create something very modern yet strangely timeless.

Nadine Sierra THERE'S A PLACE FOR US

Nadine Sierra, 2018 winner of the Metropolitan Opera’s prestigious Beverly Sills Artist Award, has made her first album for Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Gold, having signed an exclusive contract with the labels last year. Recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Robert Spano, There’s a Place for Us is scheduled for international release on 24 August 2018, in time to mark the 100th anniversary of Leonard Bernstein’s birth the following day. The album presents the soprano’s stunning vocal abilities in an eclectic choice of American classical music – as well as works by Bernstein, the repertoire ranges from Stephen Foster and Douglas Moore to Stravinsky and Villa-Lobos, and on again to Ricky Ian Gordon, Osvaldo Golijov and Christopher Theofanidis, with texts in Spanish and Portuguese as well as English. After singing the role of Norina (Don Pasquale) at the Paris Opéra in June and July, Nadine Sierra will perform music from the album at this summer’s major US festivals, including an appearance at Tanglewood’s star-studded Bernstein Centennial Celebration.

America’s founding colonists were sustained by the belief that they were building “a city on the hill”, a place that would serve as a model to all mankind. Countless migrants have journeyed there since to share the American dream. Nadine Sierra’s story stands for the stories of millions whose families have made a fresh start in the United States. The critically acclaimed lyric soprano and Fort Lauderdale native, who celebrated her 30th birthday in May, understands the essential contribution made by migrants to the nation’s growth. Her mother is Portuguese, while her father’s family hails from Puerto Rico and Italy. There’s a Place for Us, Sierra’s Deutsche Grammophon and Decca Gold debut album, pays tribute to the diverse backgrounds and creative energy of America’s classical composers. It also presents a timely reminder of unity and equality, of integration and optimism, at a time when anti-immigrant rhetoric is increasing, and fault-lines are widening between divided communities in the US and beyond.

Alice Sara Ott NIGHTFALL

On her new album Nightfall, Alice Sara Ott takes a very personal look at the magical moment in time and space between day and night, light and darkness, basing her explorations on works by Debussy, Satie and Ravel. The German-Japanese pianist decided to mark the dual celebration of her 30th birthday and her 10th anniversary as a Deutsche Grammophon artist by examining her relationship with three French composers who have had a significant influence on her, and whose music made an indelible impression on the Parisian arts scene at the turn of the 20th century. With meticulous attention to detail, she traces the shifting moods in these works, revealing the fascinating interplay of the light and dark tones used by Debussy, Satie and Ravel to create such wide-ranging atmospheres.

Ending and beginning, transparency and opacity. As day turns to night and light fades into darkness, we enter the blue hour of twilight, when the air seems full of mystery, fleetingly saturated in blue and purple hues before inexorably darkening to blackness. It is precisely this elusive change in atmosphere that Alice Sara Ott sets out to capture in musical terms on Nightfall. The album is a particularly personal artistic project for Alice Sara Ott, documenting the intensity of her musical encounters with these three composers.

Debussy, Satie and Ravel were contemporaries, and all three lived, worked and died in Paris. They were friends, but also rivals, each writing in his own very individual style. As a result, we hear the contrast between the dreaminess of Debussy’s Rêverie (1890), written when the young composer was still in search of his own stylistic ideas; the dark, romantic and intricate storytelling of Ravel’s Gaspard de la nuit (1908); and the minimalistic snapshots of Satie’s Gymnopédies and Gnossiennes (1888–90). Debussy’s dance-based Suite bergamasque was published in 1905, and Ott sees its most famous movement, “Clair de lune” – inspired by the Verlaine poem of the same name – as reflecting the way people don masks of happiness to disguise their pain. As for Ravel’s Pavane pour une infante défunte of 1899, she suggests it may be about the quest for eternal youth.
This album gives us a glimpse of the artist’s thought process, which goes beyond consideration of the musico-historical significance of the works in question, beyond her artistic interpretation of the scores and her desire for technical perfection. On a higher, more abstract level, her readings of the shimmering ambiguities central to these works mirror the dichotomy of all human emotions, as well as shining a light on her personal fascination with the psychological fissures and contradictions that mark each and every one of us, and which are just as hard to capture as the changing moods of the complex, filigree music of Debussy, Satie and Ravel.

Berliner Philharmoniker / Simon Rattle / Krystian Zimerman LEONARD BERNSTEIN Symphony No, 2 "The Age of Anxiety"

W. H. Auden was a charming moralist, wistful yet pitiless, affectionate yet weighed down by emotional pain. With The Age of Anxiety, he created a historical and psychological diagnosis of the soul and of the time in the guise of a Baroque pastoral poem: “Lies and lethargy police the world / in its periods of peace. What pain taught / is soon forgotten; we celebrate / what ought to happen as if it were done, / Are blinded by our boasts. Then back they come, / The fears that we fear.” The outer frame of the action is provided by the four protagonists who fall into conversation in a New York bar and – as the alcohol breaks down the barriers of internal censorship – discuss the war, their own world view and their faith: a fictional conversation between average people, the chorus of a drama (that fails to materialise) and a hymn and elegy.

The poem, which won Auden the Pulitzer Prize, inspired Leonard Bernstein to compose his eponymous symphony: “The essential line of Auden’s poem,” said the composer, “is the record of our difficult and problematic search for faith. In the end, two of the characters enunciate the recognition of this faith – at the same time revealing an inability to relate to it personally in their daily lives.” In the score, which mixes a kaleidoscopic variety of different musical styles, the concertante solo piano takes on a symbolic function: “The pianist,” as Bernstein wrote, “provides an almost autobiographical protagonist, set against an orchestral mirror in which he sees himself, analytically, in the modern ambience.” In the Berlin Philharmonie, no less than Krystian Zimerman will take on the solo part, interspersed with jazz-style syncopation, to which Bernstein subsequently added an extensive cadenza before the final coda.

Roberto Fabbriciani LUCA LOMBARDI Music for Solo Flute

Luca Lombardi, born December 24, 1945 in Rome. He studied piano and composition in Rome, Florence, Vienna, Cologne and Berlin, among others with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Bernd-Alois Zimmermann and Paul Dessau. He earned a PhD in German Language and Literature at Rome University. From 1973 to 1993 he taught composition at the Conservatories of Pesaro and Milan.

He wrote more than 160 compositions, including four operas (Faust. Un travestimento, 1991; Dmitri oder der Künstler und die Macht, 2000; Prospero, 2006; Il Re nudo, 2009), music for orchestra (among which Terra, 2007 and Mare, 2012), chamber music (among which Warum? Secondo quartetto per archi, 2006) and for solo instruments (among which Nel vento, con Ariel for flute, 2004).

In the 1980s Luca Lombardi met the flutist Roberto Fabbriciani whose artistry inspired many of his flute compositions.
This CD represents a variety in all the pieces and a diverse collection of flute instruments played by Roberto Fabbriciani, ranging from the earliest manifestations of Lombardi´s muse to pieces with special sound effects giving voice to human expression.
In the pieces Nel vento, con ariel and the Einstein-Dialog the sound of the solo flute is captured by the timbre of a solo cello, played by cellist Leonard Elschenbroich.
A commissioned piece for an Einstein exhibition in Berlin celebrating the century of the theory of relativity.

Andrew Rangell FROM THE EARLY 20TH...

Andrew Rangell, who has previously recorded J.S. Bach, Beethoven, Chopin, and Eastern European folk music for the Steinway & Sons label, now turns his attention to composers of the early 20th century for his latest album release.

The centerpiece of the album is Charles Ives’ Concord Sonata, whose “monumental cussedness, tenderness, and imaginative daring epitomize the character and gifts of its Yankee creator,” in Rangell’s words. Rangell makes the work his own through several idiosyncratic executional decisions, including playing on piano the optional viola part at the end of the “Emerson” movement; using his own forearm instead of a block of wood for the black-key tone clusters in “Hawthorne”; and in “Thoreau,” whistling the optional flute solo. “I hope there may be, in this species of self-reliance, something of Emerson,” writes Rangell.

Framing the Concord Sonata are three shorter works from Ives’ contemporaries, including the final piano works of Arnold Schoenberg and Carl Nielsen; and George Enescu’s “Carillon Nocturne,” written at the same time as the Concord, and which Rangell sees as a spiritual counterpart to Ives’ “Thoreau” meditation.

Berlin Chamber Duo SONATAS BY ROBERT SCHUMANN & CÉSAR FRANCK

The Berlin Chamber Duo writes of their new release: “This album with its Romantic-era programme has been recorded in dedication of our love of the viola and the music of Robert Schumann. The first ever recording on the viola of the Sonata in A minor op. 105 for violin and piano by Robert Schumann is truly a landmark for the viola repertoire and the listening public… The sonata is played on the viola using the same score as for the original violin part. This fact in turn means that the violist is faced with a special technical challenge, which is probably the reason why the sonata has never yet been recorded on the viola… The ideal complement to this sonata is a selection of Lieder by Robert Schumann, songs which can be beautifully interpreted on the viola…” The Berlin Chamber Duo is violist Mate Szucs, who is the principal solo violist of the Berlin Philharmonic, and pianist Michele Yuki Gurdal, who has been performing throughout Europe since she was nine years old.

Anne Müller / Sebastian Reynolds / Alex Stolze SOLO COLLECTIVE PART ONE

Solo Collective isn’t quite large enough to be called a supergroup, but it’s definitely a super trio. Combining the talents of Dictaphone’s Alex Stolze (violin), Nils Frahm collaborator Anne Müller (cello) and The War On Drugs’ Sebastian Reynolds (piano), these versatile musicians demonstrate a great affinity for each other’s work, as well as a sense of humility, each taking turns in the spotlight.  “Don’t try to be someone else”, sings the narrator of the album’s only vocal track.  None do, and their individual personalities are responsible for the short album’s great variety.  Never is this more apparent than in the track and video “Holy Island”, dedicated to Reynolds’ mother Sheenagh, lost to him only last year.  As the composition rides the piano to a surprising tonal conclusion, the video switches its perspective as well.

The other tracks focus on strings, with occasional layers of chimes (the meditative “Silbersee”) and electronics.  Stolze’s “Cell to Cell” has already inspired a Qrauer remix, which may open the trio to new territories, but we still prefer the original.  The track grows from a light hover, with even-tempo notes joined by counterpart before the melodies set in and take the song aloft.  One of the layers even sounds like theremin, an otherworldly addition that presages the track’s percussion and foghorn notes.  In the final thirty seconds, the flight flirts with landing, sailing just above the ground without flapping its wings.  Then there’s “Ascension”, whose opening moments sound like mechanical flight, an aircraft ascending into the stratosphere in honor of the song’s title.  The extended glissandos offer a sense of tonal euphoria, even when they begin to descend.

Combine these associations, and the album becomes one of vertical movement.  Whether physical, mechanical or spiritual, the subjects end up higher than they began, in the heavens or in the final track, in heaven itself.  And while all but Sheenagh eventually return to land, the final image is an upward gaze: spirits and hopes lifted, bolstered by visions of the world to come.  (Richard Allen)

International Contemporary Ensemble MARCOS BALTER Æsopica

ICE’s new release on its in-house label, TUNDRA, highlights a fruitful seven-year collaboration between the ensemble and Brazilian born composer Marcos Balter, featuring five world premiere recordings of works commissioned and championed by the group. Balter’s music absorbs techniques and aesthetics from across the compositional spectrum, adapting them to a sensibility that is consistently sensual, colorful, and immediate. The connection between ICE and Balter runs through Chicago, where he served on the composition faculty at Columbia College. Wicker Park, written for ICE saxophonist and former Chicago resident Ryan Muncy, celebrates a Chicago neighborhood known for its bohemian spirit and DIY arts scene. Codex Seraphinianus, for flute, soprano saxophone, viola, and bassoon, is an eleven movement suite inspired by an encyclopedia of imaginary objects by Italian designer Luigi Serafini. The Art Institute of Chicago asked Claire Chase to commission a composer to write a work inspired by the musuem’s permanent collection. The result, inspired by Cy Twombly’s Return from Parnassus, is Balter’s Descent from Parnassus, a tour de force solo flute work that is two pieces happening simultaneously — a virtuoso flute solo and a breathless recitation of Book One of Dante’s Canto Paradiso at the same time. ligare for six instruments employs subtle microtones and whistling to create an atmospheric, disembodied soundscape. The final work, Æsopica, was Balter’s first large ensemble piece for ICE. Based on Aesop’s fables, Æsopica sets this famous work for children through contemporary music, as Balter draws on his wide pallette to paint whimsical vignettes of sound and fantasy. This disc, then, is a partial compendium of Balter’s work over recent years, indeed, in the liner notes, he writes, “My music for ICE is very much like a diary of my own trajectory as a composer.”

Rolf Lislevand DIMINUITO

Rolf Lislevand lutes, vihuela de mano; Linn Andrea Fuglseth voice; Anna Maria Friman voice; Giovanna Pessi tripleharp; Marco Ambrosini nyckelharpa; Thor Harald Johnsen chitarra battente, vihuela de mano, lutes; Michael Behringer clavichord, organ; Bjørn Kjellemyr colascione; David Mayoral percussion.

 On “Nuove Musiche”, his highly successful ECM debut released in spring 2006, Norwegian master lutenist led his own group of international early music virtuosi. The album presented ravishing and most unorthodox accounts of mostly Italian instrumental music from the early Baroque. Based on Italian Renaissance sources from the 16th century – madrigals, chansons and virtuoso lute music – the new programme goes even further back – from the “seconda pratica” of monophonic expressiveness to the “prima pratica” of polyphonic complexity.

Once again putting a strong emphasis on improvisation, Lislevand and his colleagues disclose the astounding modernity and emotional wealth in the music of composers such as Giovanni Antonio Terzi or Joan Ambrosio Dalza. Most of the music stems from the Veneto region of Italy where, at that period, strong influences of oriental and eastern music could be felt. Lislevand’s group translates this with a lush scoring for deep instruments, both stringed and plucked. The album title “Diminuito” refers to the praxis of virtuosic ornamentation of vocal lines, the “diminution” of larger rhythmic and harmonic units in most agile runs, scales and arpeggi. The album was recorded in St. Gerold with line-up including the delightful sopranos of Anna Maria Friman and Linn Andrea Fuglesth. (ECM Records)

Alexander Ivashkin / Russian State Symphony Orchestra / Valeri Polyansky GIYA KANCHELI Simi - Mourned by the Wind

Distrustful of virtuosity for its own sake, and aware of his own technical limitations, Giya Kancheli has deliberately avoided using the term "concerto" for his works for cello and orchestra, Simi and Mourned by the Wind. It may be said, however, that these pieces are concerto-like, insofar as sustaining long pitches and controlling the instrument's tone are equally challenging to the performer, and both pieces display serene, chant-like phrases that require a light touch and a steady bow arm. Kancheli's expressions are decidedly somber and meditative -- note the words in the subtitles, "bleak reflections" and "Liturgy in memoriam" -- and it may become obvious why he chooses to score many passages in the cello's and orchestra's lowest range and seldom ventures into the brighter upper octaves, except for occasional eerie harmonics and fleeting "night music" sonorities. The cello's central role in Simi is reversed in Mourned by the Wind, where the orchestra is dominant and the cello reduced to a less active part; yet cellist Alexander Ivashkin is the musician listeners will follow, and his subdued but warm playing is always distinctly separated from the orchestral mass, even at its loudest. The Russian State Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Valery Polyansky, is fully engaged in these brooding performances, and Chandos' sound quality is evenly balanced. (Blair Sanderson)

Gidon Kremer / Kremerata Baltica HYMNS AND PRAYERS

A beautifully-recorded album from master violinist Gidon Kremer and his Kremerata, Baltica, spanning a wide range of music, all of it broached with conviction. Hungarian composer and pianist Stevan Kovacs Tickmayer from the Serbian province of Vojvodina has written eight hymns in commemoration of the film director Andrei Tarkovsky, an artist he has called a homo moralis whose remarkable visions cast a small but significant light on the tragic world of the previous century. Georgian composer Giya Kancheli contributes a silent prayer for two of his most important musical associates: the cellist and conductor Mstislav Rostropovich and the violinist Gidon Kremer. The contemplative intensity of the hymns and the ascetic tranquillity of the prayer are offset by César Franck‘s Piano Quintet in F minor like a premonition of Beethoven’s Appassionata, whose second movement, marked Lento, molto sentimento, in turn takes up the mood of the other two works. This programmatic combination underlines an intrinsic principle Paul Klee developed in his theory of harmony in the visual arts: any compositional harmony will gain character through dissonances, with the balance being restored by counterweights. (ECM Records)

István Mátyás HANS GÁL Orgelwerke

As a performer, Gál was first and foremost a pianist (though he made it his business to learn to play most of the standard instruments). Little is known specifically of his activities as an organ player, though in an interview given to the Südwestfunk Radio in Mainz in 1986 (at the age of 96) in which he spoke about his early career as a composer, Gál stated that:
“I was very interested in the organ at that time. I played the organ myself as a young man. In Vienna you could only play the organ in a church. I did that, I often played for a service in a church, like the Catholic church. The difference is: in Germany the position of organist at a large church was a sought-after and possible profession. In Austria this profession didn’t exist. The Catholic church never spent any money on the organist. It was mostly the local village school-master who played the organ. And so for years I helped out on the organ from time to time in small churches. So I was completely at home on the instrument.”

Sarah Beth Briggs / Royal Northern Sinfonia / Kenneth Woods GÁL Concerto for Piano & Orchestra MOZART Piano Concerto No. 22 K. 482

The Austrian Jewish composer Hans Gál fled Vienna in 1938 for England and then Scotland, then learned that both his aunt and his sister had committed suicide to avoid being sent to Auschwitz. He himself spent time in a British internment camp for enemy aliens. Through these events he maintained a consistent personal style that tended toward optimism, and his Piano Concerto, Op. 57, recorded here for the first time, is a fine example. It is Mozartian without being neoclassic, putting essentially Romantic melodies together in clean, distinct units and adding a bit of chromatic harmony. It's as if Carl Maria von Weber had written his piano music at the beginning of the 20th century instead of the beginning of the 19th. Sample the last movement (track 3), where a very Mozartian mixture of high spirits and melancholy reigns. The Royal Northern Sinfonia under Kenneth Woods and pianist Sarah Beth Briggs are quietly sensitive in the complex ensemble work. The Mozart Piano Concerto No. 22 in E flat major, K. 482, fills out the program in an unusually satisfying way, and Avie gets exactly the right lucid sound, working in Sage Gateshead's Hall One in North East England. Marvelous music by a composer who is benefiting from a well-deserved revival. (James Manheim)

Briggs Piano Trio GÁL Piano Trio in E, Op. 18 SHOSTAKOVICH Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor, Op. 67

The Briggs Piano Trio, which Avie brought together for this release, have a mission to raise the profile of the Austrian composer Hans Gál. In 2016, Sarah Beth Briggs and Kenneth Woods collaborated on the world premiere recording of the composer's Piano Concerto. Earlier this year, Briggs contributed to Volume 3 of Gál chamber music series on Toccata Classics. I was very lucky to have the opportunity to review both those discs. Kenneth Woods, whose many-faceted career includes not only playing the cello but also conducting, has recorded the composer's four symphonies. Looking around, there is every evidence that a Gál renaissance is underway, and not before time.
Hans Gál, born in Vienna in 1890, studied piano with Richard Robert, who also taught Clara Haskil, Rudolf Serkin and George Szell. Robert later appointed Gál teacher of piano, harmony and counterpoint at the New Conservatory in Vienna. When Hitler came to power in 1933, Gál saw the writing on the wall and eventually fled to the UK in 1938. He spent a period of internment in the Isle of Man. In 1942 his mother died, and his aunt and sister took their own lives shortly after to avoid deportation to Auschwitz. In December 1942 his son Peter, only eighteen, met a similar fate. Throughout the composer’s long life, music was to sustain him, and the tragedies that came his way in no way dimmed his creative powers. He eventually relocated to Edinburgh, where he remained for the rest of his life. He helped found the Edinburgh International Festival in 1947. He died in 1987 aged 97.
Gál penned his Piano Trio in E major in 1923. His fortunes had been on the rise. He had been awarded the Rothschild Prize in 1919, and had secured a post on the teaching staff at the University of Vienna, albeit on a modest salary. Then came a period of political instability caused by German hyperinflation, but none of this turmoil is reflected in the Trio. I discovered that this was the first of two piano trios he wrote. The other was a short work in G major, Op. 49b, composed just over twenty-five years later in 1949. Both trios, together with the 'Heurigen' Variations have been recorded before, in 2004, on the Camerata label. I have never heard this alternative so I will not offer any comparisons.
The Op. 18 Trio is in three movements. The first is melodically rich, where dreamy lyricism alternates with more dramatic intent. Sweeping declamatory romantic gestures are seasoned with the occasional hint of nostalgia. The piano seems to have a prominent role. The central movement is a Scherzo in all but name. It opens with a sprightly romp which falls over itself into a bout of rough and tumble. The trio section offers some warm lyrical contrast. The finale has a slow wistful introduction; this gradually becomes a whimsical allegro, which is capricious and mercurial in character.
The Variations on a Viennese 'Heurigen' Melody date back to 1914, but were only published after the First World War. The work has gained some popularity since, and here provides some lighter fare before the anguished Shostakovich Trio. The Briggs Piano Trio seem to be really enjoying themselves here, and imbue the work with an alluring Viennese charm.
Shostakovich's four-movement Piano Trio No. 2 in E minor from 1944 was dedicated to his friend, Ivan Sollertinsky, who had recently died at age 41. It was premiered in Leningrad on 14 November the same year. The work is a response to both the national tragedy of war and his own very personal loss. The first movement opens with ethereal harmonics around which the muted violin weaves an eerie melody, backed by some dark sombre piano chords. The atmosphere could not be more bleak. The tempo becomes more animated but the overall mood is restless and agitated; there is no peace. To the second scherzo-like movement, the players bring savage irony and wit. A passacaglia with funereal tread, weighed down with pain and anguish, precedes an Allegretto finale, where joy and sorrow rub shoulders. Shostakovich makes use of Jewish themes in what one can only describe as a danse macabre. The ensemble deliver a rhythmically potent reading which really makes you sit up and take notice. Their energy is totally infectious.
For Gál enthusiasts, like myself, this release will be self-recommending. The Briggs Piano Trio’s immaculately tailored performances, enhanced by superb sound quality, get my warm-hearted recommendation. (Stephen Greenbank)

Anna Netrebko / Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia / Antonio Pappano VERISMO

. . . ["Verismo"] reveals she is more than just a star; her performances of arias and scenes from Italian opera highlight an artistry that is both subtle and thrilling . . . Netrebko's rich lyric soprano is a natural match for the lush vocals demanded by these operas, not least because her voice is at its most powerful and complex in the transitional "passaggio" points at the top and bottom of the treble staff . . . [she] flaunts a fascinating low register in the very first cut on the album, "Io son l'umile ancella" . . . The hallmark of this collection is Netrebko's taking offbeat approaches to pieces opera fans have heard a hundred times before . . . Netrebko's originality of approach can color an entire aria . . . among the most striking performances on this disc are arias from operas associated with full dramatic sopranos. In "Suicidio!" from "La Gioconda", Netrebko evokes a mood of doom with lurching high phrases and plunges into her eerie lower range . . . in the showpiece from "Turandot" "In questa reggia," Netrebko works the many phrases pounding at the higher passaggio like an expert warrior wielding a sword. It's hard to imagine this killer aria sung more beautifully . . . [Eyvazov's] bright, almost metallic tenor provides as well an effective foil in the highlight of this disc, the final act of Puccini's "Manon Lescaut" . . . [Manon]: her onstage experience is immediately apparent in the wealth of detail she brings to this 20-minute scene. Pain, desperation, terror, fatigue -- even momentary bliss when Manon nestles in the arms of her lover -- these conflicting emotions shimmer through Netrebko's voice so seamlessly that at moments it's easy to forget that you're just listening to a recording of an opera. On this CD, Anna Netrebko makes verismo seem realer than life itself. (James Jorden / New York Observer)